Binghamton University Field School 2017

The 2017 Binghamton University Field School will be investigating an 18th century Native American village site in northern Pennsylvania (about 45 minutes from
Binghamton). The site, known as “Queen Esther’s Town,” is one of several sites on
land owned by the Archaeological Conservancy. The locale was home to a community of
Delaware Indians and led by Queen Esther, a prominent woman of French and Native descent,
during the American Revolution. Historic records describe the village as having 70
houses and cattle grazing lands, all destroyed in September 1778 as part of the American
campaign against British-allied Native villages. The area was surface collected by
collectors and avocationals during the 20th century, but little is known about the village layout and individual structures.
This will be the first controlled subsurface investigation of the village site, guided
by the results of a geophysical survey this spring.

The five-week field school will include intensive training in Northeastern Native
American history, archaeological survey techniques and excavation, laboratory methods
and artifact analysis, archaeological interpretation, and other kinds of evidence
integral to interpretations of the past, such as geology, oral history, and written
records.

Transportation between the Binghamton University campus and the field site will be
provided. Room and board is each student’s responsibility; there is summer housing
available in the Binghamton area and on campus.